Saturday, June 22, 2013

Heartbalm / Malachi Stone

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Author:

Malachi Stone is an attorney practicing law in Southern Illinois. He is the author of ten novels and a
book of short stories.

Description:

“In this darkly comic novel, a sex-addicted attorney in uneasy recovery
suffers a major relapse when he hires a sexy secretary, making himself the
target of her insanely jealous biker ex-husband, a seven-foot ogre street-named
’Snuggle.’ Ricky's latest client is also his twelve-step sponsor, a psychotic
who thinks Walmart is slipping Sani-Flush into his medication and who is
charged with committing public indecency at the Santa Claus parade. When Ricky
impetuously joins in a threesome with a convenience store clerk and her
friend, his life problems multiply.”

Appraisal:

Rick
Galeer, Attorney at Law, whose primary area of practice was child advocacy, is
a sex addict, alcoholic, and methamphetamine abuser. He has been clean for two
years, when he falls off the wagon things start going wrong and spirals out of
control in a big way. The web of chaos and deception that Ricky finds himself
in with friends, clients, thugs, and a
rather nasty detective is cleverly written. The story is told from Rick’s point
of view and all of the characters, there are several, are well written and
developed as the story progresses. The way each of their stories are woven
together was entertaining and sometimes humorous, while at other times tragic.

Rick is a
smart man but he listens to the wrong head and finds himself in
life-threatening situations. There are several plot twists as the story moves
forward getting deeper and deeper into depravity. When Rick finally starts
using his brain and remembers some wise advice he slowly starts putting the
pieces of this puzzle together, but nobody’s life will ever be the same.

I had a few
problems with this book on an editing level. When
I came across words like pitcher, ast, and waren’t I decided these were
intentional misspellings the author used to convey how his characters sounded
when they spoke. I hope anyway because I accepted them as such. However, one of
the characters nickname was Drey and I found this character referred to as Drew
seven times though out the book. Here is a sample of the way Drey spoke:

"Life sure ain't fair. But you
can't never tell, can you? Like for instance this one old dago that still
stayed in Washington Park"-she pronounced it Washinton-"even after
the niggers got so bad, he was like the next-to-the-last white man left in
town, he walks the streets lookin' like a total hobo, with patches on his
ass, wearin' this ole busted out World War Two jacket, you'd pitcher him
standin' in a cheese line or hangin' around on the sidewalk waitin' for the
food pantry to open up? I ast a friend of mine and as it turns out, that ole
duffer was the head of the local mafia. Can you believe it?..."

On a believability level, I was willing to suspend my disbelief to allow
Rick to speak with his jaw wired shut because he was the main character and he
had a lot to say. I loved the dialogue between Heart, his secretary, and him
but how do you manage to eat Hamburger Helper with your jaw wired shut? Is that possible?

FYI:

“This book contains content considered unsuitable for
young readers 17 and under, and which may be offensive to some readers of all
ages.” I should also add this book contains racist remarks, sexual situations,
and very profane language. I really stepped out of my comfort zone with this book;
I think I need to go find a nice book with some unicorns or fairies and a nice
quiet corner.

Format/Typo Issues:

There are a small number of editing errors outside of the
language style that some of the characters spoke.

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